Plugge doesn’t hide Tour de France financial pain: "We pay tens of thousands just to participate"

Amidst the Giro d’Italia chaos, where Visma | Lease a Bike is making waves with two stage wins and a dominant Simon Yates at the top of the GC, team boss Richard Plugge found time to join the In de Waaier podcast. There, he discussed the current state of cycling and voiced concerns about the sport’s future.

“Cycling has the potential to be much bigger for so many parties involved,” Plugge began. “If you look at football or Formula 1, those are much more commercially developed because there’s more collaboration. 95% of our revenue comes from sponsorships, whereas in those other sports, a big part of the income comes from the sport itself. That’s something we want to change.”

To help make that change, several teams, including Visma | Lease a Bike, have launched a collaboration with Velon. “If you ask people which races are part of the WorldTour, many won’t know. We want to build a storyline, clear connections between the races. The fact that some teams are only riding to stay in the WorldTour this year says enough.”

The packed calendar also makes it difficult to attract new viewers, Plugge believes. “Try explaining why Jonas, for example, doesn’t race against Tadej in the Tour of Flanders. I can explain that easily, but try doing that for someone who doesn’t follow cycling. The UCI needs to ensure that the big names race against each other more often in the major events, but right now, there are simply too many races.”

“When Messi was still playing in Europe, it was unthinkable that he wouldn’t play in a Champions League match,” Plugge adds as a comparison. “In cycling, that does happen. Of course, not every rider has to do all the big races, but currently, only about 30% of the top riders show up. That should really be closer to 70%.”

According to Plugge, the issue isn’t just that top riders are missing. The costs for cycling teams are also rising significantly. “In the Tour de France, for example, we do receive a start fee, but it’s never enough to cover all the expenses. Taking part in the Tour often costs us tens of thousands of euros. Meanwhile, the organizer makes an enormous amount of money.” Patrick Lefevere also recently voiced concerns about the costs teams face to compete at the highest level.

Plugge believes it’s the Tour’s organizer - ASO - that’s refusing to cooperate in improving the sport. “ASO wants to keep everything the way it is, but that’s not how you help the sport move forward. I believe you should always look for ways to improve the sport, especially if you’re such a powerful and influential organization. I respect their decision, but I find it disappointing. I really think the entire sport would benefit from change.”

Another issue that bothers the 55-year-old Dutchman is the safety of race courses, which have already led to several serious accidents. “Everyone can make mistakes, but it’s maddening that some routes are so unsafe and aren’t even reviewed properly. These are just people doing their jobs, but sometimes they make it incredibly dangerous.”

To help make races safer, Plugge helped establish SafeR, an organization aimed at improving safety in cycling. “The setup went well, but certain parties weren’t happy about it, so it never really had a chance. And then you hear someone like Prudhomme say, ‘Yeah, the riders are going too fast.’ That’s complete nonsense, the course just needs to be safe.”